Re: Spamming

From: tim@leaphome.pelican.org (Tim Franklin)

Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 00:00:00 +0000

On Wed, 26 Aug 1998 13:08:30 -0400 (EDT), tijerino@webtv.net wrote:

>This is a ng for pbm/pbem players and Dm's. players are posting here to
>find out about the games available and promblems in the games.
>People respond with their recomendations and where to go to get
>information. DM' s respond to players question and provide information.
> I don't see where plug-ins are spam. Now if u send that information to
>my e-mail address when i have not asked for it, That is spam.
>

Actually, that's categorically *not* spam, despite the tendancy of the computing
media to lump all kinds of unsolicited bulk abuse of the Internet under the same
term.

Spam is excessive posting of substantively similar articles to newsgroups (note
to the thread originator - it's a newsgroup.  Mailing lists are something very
different, as are "boards").  There are precisely-defined mathematical
thresholds combining number of postings, number of groups, cross-postings or
multi-postings and time-periods beyond which such material is generally accepted
to cancellable - it is deleted from many of the news servers which carry the
group(s) spammed.

Unwanted, unasked for junk that comes via email is often unsolicited commerical
email (UCE), but to include the people who'd like to get you to join their
religion, visit their website, or beware of the Good Times virus, the term
unsolicted bulk email (UBE) is often used.

Posting essentially the same reply more than a handful of times in answer to
people's requests for information quite likely qualifies as spam.  If it's "Why
not try my FooWorld game - see http://www.fooworld.org/", nobody's going to care
all that much.  If it's a 30-line hype-sheet every time, readers of the group
are going to get a bit more upset.  If a GM spots a half-a-dozen similar
queries, the most polite thing to do (IMHO) is to send a "To everyone recently
asking about a game..." reply *once*.

Regards,
Tim.

--
Tim Franklin                       | "Progress is the process by which Usenet
                                   | has evolved from smart people in front of
Home    : tim@leaphome.pelican.org | dumb terminals to dumb people in front of
FidoNet : Tim Franklin@2:257/15    | smart terminals."  -- Obscurity, 1997

References

Re: Spamming
Sam Palmer <SAM@homeway.demon.co.uk>
Mon, 17 Aug 1998 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Spamming
tijerino@webtv.net
Wed, 26 Aug 1998 00:00:00 +0000